Florida man dies in ‘gruesome’ wood chipper accident

A Florida man died Monday when he fell into an industrial-size wood chipper as he was removing debris on a south Florida road.

The Sun-Sentinel reported that witnesses saw a fellow worker, looking distraught, running from the machine, apparently trying to get help for the man. The stunned worker who witnessed the incident collapsed against a fence in horror, the report said.

"I've been in police work for 20 years," Davis Police Capt. Dale Engle told the paper. "I've never seen anything like this. It was a gruesome scene."

The report said police are conducting an investigation, but police expect confirmation that the incident was indeed an accident. The work crew was at an affordable housing apartment unit, the paper reported.

NBC Miami reported that there were 11 wood chipper deaths in the U.S. from 2000 to 2013.